L’Oréal marks 60 years in Canada with new offices

In 1958, the beauty maker opened in Canada with one division, L'Oréal Coiffure, focused on professional hair products. Now the Canadian subsidiary comprises 4 divisions, 39 brands, and brought in $1.192bn in sales last year.

“L'Oréal's early years in Canada began very modestly,”​ affirms Philippe Dalle, founder of L'Oréal Canada. “We built the notoriety of our products during the 60s, slowly but surely, one hair stylist at a time, promoting our only division at the time, L'Oréal Coiffure.”​

New spaces​

L’Oréal Canada has its offices in an historic building that was once home to Eaton's department store. In celebration of the past and with an eye on the future, those offices have been updated.

“The objective of the renovations was to provide L'Oréal Canada with a modern work environment that is adapted to our needs and that is as closely related as possible to the spirit and behaviour of our employees,”​ explains Frank Kollmar, president and CEO of L'Oréal Canada, in a media release.

Kollmar believes that “the work environment is the sounding board for behaviours and ways of working.”​

And he goes on to describe a space and present-day company culture that foregrounds flexibility, sustainability, collaboration, and entrepreneurship: “We are growing and our teams are growing rapidly, which is why it is important to ensure that the space provided is of the most flexible, and to offer a sustainable solution. We also wanted a more collaborative and entrepreneurial culture, because we have a strong team spirit.”​

The offices are multifunctional and include a Hairdressing Academy, a hair-color-testing technical center, a training space for sales team members, a cafeteria and coffee bar, a library with space of yoga, a graphics studio, and a Content Factory.

Read more about The Content Factory, which serves L’Oréal brands and businesses in and beyond Canada, here on Cosmetics Design​.

New faces​

The L’Oréal press release about the company’s anniversary in Canada, asserts that design and details of the newly reworked offices were determined “due to the nature of its industry and its population which is made up mostly of millennials.”​

Indeed, the company itself is mostly millennial in Canada. 60% of the 500+ L’Oréal Canada employees are millennials, according to the release.

Besides its downtown offices, L’Oréal Canada also has a factory and distribution facility in Montreal’s nearby borough of Ville Saint-Laurent. The newest faces there just may be the 65+ children who attend the on-site L'Oréal Kids childcare center (which is proudly 100% carbon-neutral). And while the factory wasn’t part of the 2018 remodel, it is described as “one of the most modern in the [L’Oréal] Group,” ​having opened in 2001.

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.